Disney World’s Animal Kingdom with Toddlers

Day 2, January 2009

Animal Kingdom was the most important park of all to Joshua, who was still in his obsessed-with-animals phase.

Our trip was a lot about the ducks and the water. You just can’t pick your kids’ interests. Some boys are fascinated with trains or tractors. Joshua LOVES animals and the water. We think he may be a Navy captain one day.

Day 2: The Animal Kingdom

The Animal kingdom was obviously highly anticipated by Joshua. This boy was so excited he RAN from the bus to the park entrance, and all day he said, “I want to see animals. Where’s the elephants? How about some lions?” He was so HAPPY. (and so COLD. This was the coldest day. We started out a little later to miss the 20 degree weather, but it was still literally freezing.)

The first thing we did was stroll through some trails so Joshua could check out all the water and the birds. This was his first time to see flamingos. Then we went on a safari ride. It actually wasn’t quite as good as the one we went on with Nonna at Pine Mountain. But we still enjoyed it. Caleb was so cold he wasn’t even moving that day. ( I know. So sad!) He fell asleep on the safari. I think it was Joshua’s favorite thing of the day.

We had lunch at Tusker House, which has a very African flair. Then (on my insistence b/c I was tired of being cold and worried about Caleb!) we went to see the Lion King show. It was great, and the boys loved it! Joshua’s been making wart-hog noises ever since, and that’s a pretty annoying sound.

Then we took a zoo-like walk where the tigers and birds are. We tried to take in an outdoor bird show, but Caleb was having none of that. And I don’t blame him. Too cold. In the afternoon we got the boys popcorn and watched the parade. Then we went to the room for a few moments of rest and headed back to The Magic Kingdom for supper with Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, and Piglet.

That was our only restaurant experience that ended with me heading out early while Alan picked up the tab b/c the boys were just too exhausted. But we did leave at exactly the right time to sit in the warmth of the bus to watch the fireworks! The boys loved that. Oh! And did I mention Joshua made it through all 5 days without using his pull-up once!!! So proud!! Of course there was a bush watering incident, but that’ll make a funny story one day!

The first night the boys were having a party in the room. The other nights they passed out the second their heads hit the pillow. Caleb actually slept in a playpen. We stayed at one of the value resorts, can’t remember which one, and were fully satisfied. However, the rooms are so small, we upgraded to TWO adjoining hotel rooms, and that was back when we were only a family of four. But that worked out splendidly. We even had two bathrooms that way!